Apple’s Steve Jobs steals the show
New colors, video camera, price cuts. Whatever. The Apple show belonged to Steve Jobs.
So how did he look? Rail thin, as you can see from this picture (see below or click here for a bunch more shots of the 54-year old chief executive). That shouldn’t come as a surprise, given he’s recovering from a liver transplant.
Even looking frail, however, his presence pumped up the crowd. “Steve Jobs making an appearance was definitely a pleasant surprise,” said Shaw Wu, an analyst with Kaufman Brothers. Another analyst, Brian Marshall of Broadpoint AmTech added, “I was surprised to see Steve. It’s great to see that he’s doing well.”
Here is a chronology of Jobs’ health issues:
2004:
August: Jobs announces he underwent successful surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his pancreas. He says it was a rare form of pancreatic cancer called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor.
Even Apple music wants to be free, sort of
The New York Times headline on Apple’s Macworld convention is so snappy that it almost frees me of the obligation to write this blog entry today:
Want to copy iTunes Music? Go Ahead, Apple says.
Fortunately, the Times couldn’t fit this other part into the headline, giving us something to quote:
Beginning this week, three of the four major music labels – Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group – will begin selling music through iTunes without digital rights management software, or D.R.M., which controls the copying and use of digital files. The fourth, EMI, was already doing so.
In return, Apple, whose dominance in online music sales gives it powerful leverage, agreed to a longstanding demand of the music labels and said it would move away from its insistence on pricing all individual song downloads on iTunes at 99 cents.
Instead, the majority of songs will drop to 69 cents beginning in April, while the biggest hits and newest songs will go for $1.29. Others that are moderately popular will remain at 99 cents.
The music industry thinks these moves will help sales, while people who like to share their music or play it on devices that are not iPods might stop re-mixing geek rallies with street protests.
Steve Jobs: I’m well thanks, but I have a weight problem
Apple investors and Apple fans heaved a collective sigh of relief on Monday morning after CEO and founder Steve Jobs finally made an attempt to end rumors that he’s on his deathbed.
Jobs sent a letter to his followers, who will be gathering at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco in his absence, explaining his recent weight-loss has been due to a hormonal imbalance.
As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority. Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause — a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.
Jobs goes on to say the remedy is ”relatively simple and straightforward” and that he’s already begun treatment.
Meanwhile, Apple fans at Macworld Expo will miss a Jobs appearance and the analysts over at Bernstein Research expect the show to be “relatively unexciting”. They expect the major highlights to include a demonstration of Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard”; new Mac desktops and a modest update to the AppleTV.
But Bernstein says don’t hold your breath for a new cheaper iPhone as has been speculated.
Apple’s not coming to the ball…but why?
No matter how hard the PR execs try, Apple can’t help but court controversy when it comes to the health of its leader Steve Jobs.
Ever since it was revealed he had a successful operation for pancreatic cancer, Apple fans and investors have been very skittish about any hint that Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, founder and visionary, might have to step down due to bad health. Jobs’ recent public appearances haven’t helped as he has looked unusually thin.
So news that Jobs would not be making his now annual keynote appearance at next month’s Macworld show sent shares down nearly 7 percent on Wednesday.
Apple said it won’t be making appearances at future Macworld’s so the real short term loser in this might be Macworld organizer IDG, which has said it will soldier on.
No one’s quite sure what Apple’s up to here. It could be cost saving, it could be they have no special new products to show off, or it really could be Jobs is feeling under the weather.
Of course, if they want to show off new fancy gadgets at the start of the year like other mere mortal consumer electronics companies they could always show up at CES — the not inconsequential gadget extravaganza in Las Vegas.
I think that Apple has not prepared for fancy release of its new products. May be Apple should take time to evaluate customers’ market and launch new product.
Announcements about software upgrade/ product upgrade wont boost their sale unless it lures customers.
Steve Jobs “may never be equaled”?
The same no doubt was said of Thomas Edison.
There is another Steve Jobs waiting in the wings of invention around the corner. I am a Steve Jobs fan and own an Apple so I am not down playing Steve Jobs, it is good you used the word “May”.